Orient Express

1980 - 2003

Orient Express was the first truly terrifying coaster at Worlds of Fun. Today, we watch shows on mega-coasters, extremely tall, extremly fast, that was the Orient Express in its day. Orient Express was a truly ground-breaking for the coaster world as it ushered in a whole breed of multi-looping steel monsters of which Patriot today is descended from.

UNIQUE FEATURES

Orient Express was built by Arrow Development/Dynamics of Mountain View, CA. Three decades before, Arrow had changed the roller coaster world by introducing the world’s first tubular steel roller coaster at Disneyland, known as the Matterhorn. Five years before they had broken even more new ground with the first modern-inverting coaster, the Corkscrew at Knott’s Berry Farm. Orient Express would break new ground itself by not only being the world’s tallest and fastest coaster, but also the very first coaster to introduce an element never before seen... the boomerang. The boomerang element in very common these days, one only has to look at Worlds of Fun today to see a coaster CALLED The Boomerang, to see its influence. The boomerang element is a simple double twist of track, but it was the first element to depart from the simple loop or corkscrew, and Worlds of Fun gave it a special name, the Kamikaze Kurve.

Orient Express drew its name from the Agatha Christie thriller, Murder on the Orient Express, and more indirectly the famous Orient Express railroad. Famously, Worlds of Fun was sued in the 1990’s by the same Orient Express railroad line to change its name. The name change never happened thankfully, but it is a unique and VERY true side story.

Orient Express in its time was a true thriller, it combined four amazing, gut-punching drops, an aesthetically beautiful combination interlocking loops, and of course the pounding Kamikaze Kurve. The adjective of “pounding” has also been used to describe a ride on the Orient Express too, it truly was not the smoothest ride around. A ride on the Orient Express truly was never unforgettable.

F.Y.I.

The end cam slowly to this massive steel beast, but as a proto-type of things to come Orient Express not only pounded riders, but pounded itself to death. We now know that steel coasters have a finite lifespan. In 2003, we all discovered that chilling fact as the park struggled to keep the Orient Express operating until the end of the season. It didn’t happen. Orient Express gave its final ride in September 2003. Unlike Zambezi Zinger, Orient Express wasn’t allowed a second life, it was demolished and scrapped for its steel. The coaster is gone but this red steel beast will always be remembered as long as those that rode it keep its memory alive.

There are two coasters still in existence that bear a resemblance to this great coaster. The first being the Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Loch Ness was built in 1978 by Arrow Dynamics and was the first and now only coaster to incorporate interlocked loops into the ride. (the second was the Orient Express).

The second coaster was actually built many years after the Orient Express and it is The Vortex at Paramount's Kings Island. Built by Arrow Dynamics for the park, while not a complete clone, it does follow the layout almost completely while throwing in a taller drop and two corkscrews into the mix as well.